The Cherry Cola Book Club - By Ashton Lee Page 0,4

this restaurant if I’d pulled my punches in my divorce settlement with Harlan Lattimore? Hell, he wanted to ditch me high and dry, but I bowed up and said, ‘No, sir, you won’t! Not after thirteen years of marriage, and my salad days are in my rear-view mirror. I helped you make a success of The Marina Bar and Grill, working hard as your secretary day and night, and I’ll be damned if you’ll leave me out in the middle of the water without a paddle!’ ”

There was a touch of envy in Maura Beth’s quiet little sigh. “You certainly know how to stand up for yourself. Of course I know I can’t let these men intimidate me. That’s exactly what they want. But I can’t force people to come to the library, either. I just don’t know if there’s a way out of this.”

“You gotta have you a gimmick,” Periwinkle replied, leaning in while furiously working her gum. “Listen to this. When I was trying to come up with a name for my restaurant, I realized that it wouldn’t matter what I called it if my food was no good. I know how to put together a delicious meal, though, so that part didn’t worry me. But I thought to myself that a catchy name might just get ’em in the door the first time, and then they’d be hooked. Did I ever tell you that I originally wanted to call this place Twinkle, Twinkle, Periwinkle’s?”

They both laughed heartily, and Maura Beth said, “No. So why didn’t you? I just love that!”

“Well, I thought it might be a bit too cutesy. So I ran it past my mother over in Corinth, and she said, ‘Peri, honey, that sounds like you’re running one a’ those baby boutiques. You know—where they sell bassinets and cradles and that kinda stuff.’ And after I thought about it for a while, I knew she was right on the money. So I put the café part in there so people would know it was definitely a new place to eat. Since then, of course, everyone’s shortened it to The Twinkle. It’s all worked out, but you need to come up with something that’ll get people into your library pronto so you can fend off those fat cats.”

Just then, a somewhat plump but still appealing middle-aged woman wearing big brunette hair and a busy floral muumuu flounced through the front door, waving and smiling expectantly all the way. “Periwinkle,” she said, slightly out of breath, “I finally found the time to pick up those tomato aspics I ordered this morning. I’ve been running behind all day with my errands.”

Periwinkle stood up and offered her hand as the woman reached their table. “They’re in the fridge, cool as a cucumber. I’ll run go get ’em for ya.” She quickly made a half turn toward the kitchen, but stopped just as suddenly in her tracks. “Now, where are my manners? Let me introduce you two. Maura Beth Mayhew, this is one of my newest customers, Connie McShay. She and her husband just moved here from Nashville about a month ago.” Periwinkle paused for a quick breath. “Connie, I’m sure you’ll be interested to hear that Maura Beth runs our library. I don’t have much time for books myself since The Twinkle takes up every minute of my day, but I’m sure Maura Beth’ll welcome a new patron with open arms, won’tcha, honey?”

“I most certainly will!” Maura Beth exclaimed, rising from her seat to shake hands and exchange further pleasantries while Periwinkle hurried off to retrieve the aspics.

“I’ve been meaning to drop by your library, you know,” Connie continued with an authentic warmth in her voice. “My husband, Douglas, and I have been so busy settling into our lodge on the lake, though. We’ve popped in only a week or two every year, but now we’re here for good. We still have so many boxes to unpack. I could swear those cardboard creatures somehow managed to reproduce in that moving van on the way down. Anyway, I’m a huge reader, and I even belonged to a wonderful book club up in Nashville. We called ourselves The Music City Page Turners.”

Maura Beth brightened considerably. “And that’s music to my ears. You simply must get your card soon and pick out a couple of the new best sellers we’ve just gotten in. I use every last cent the library has to keep up with all the popular reads. What’s your genre,